On Tuesday morning, at 8:30, we received a call from Badee Dwaik, one of the co-ordinators of Human Rights Defenders, a Palestinian human rights group, about the unfolding situation in Al Fawwar refugee camp.

Around 2:00 that morning, hundreds of Israeli soldiers invaded the village. Claiming they were looking for weapons, they went from home to home, searching each one. In homes that they searched, the soldiers destroyed furniture and made a mess. Their invasion caused clashes, as young Palestinian men and boys rushed out to confront them with rocks.

As we drove close to the village, we could see a roadblock and a number of Israeli army jeeps stationed and blocking the passage of vehicles in and out of the area. We saw a UN car and spoke to the drivers. They too were denied entry.

X, my fellow activist, and myself, decided to try getting into the village. The soldiers at the roadblock stopped us and asked us who we were. Knowing that the UN were denied entry and that in greatest likelihood if they were denied entry then our group would face the same treatment, we told the soldiers we are tourists. One of them looked at us and asked “OK, but are you sure you want to go in? It’s not very quiet there”. We feigned ignorance and asked the soldier what is going on. He said he couldn’t tell us, but advised us not to go in.

We said that we would like to go in anyway. I resisted the urge to tell the soldier that the reason things were “not very quiet” in the village was because he and his comrades were attacking it.

As we entered into the village, we ran into a group of soldiers from Hebron. We knew each other well from previous encounters, especially settler tours and their forays into H1. They were very hostile and tried to stop us from filming, by blocking and attempting to grab my camera. They snapped at Palestinians to get into their homes or to keep moving. We could hear gunshots and sound bombs exploding in further areas of the village.

Pretty soon, we saw some Palestinian men throwing rocks at soldiers. The soldiers opened fire on them with rubber coated steel bullets, we could hear the loud “bang” noises as we sat behind a wall and observed.

A Palestinian family invited us to their house, and we observed from the rooftop as Israeli soldiers entered people’s houses. Groups about a dozen armed soldiers would enter through the door. Of course the families were not consulted. We visited a home that just about 15 minutes before was searched by the soldiers. We came to room after room of upturned furniture, clothes strewn over the floor, beds and tables flipped over. We witnessed a group of soldiers come into a home of a Palestinian family, a big dog with them.

Sometimes the houses were searched, but not always. During other times the soldiers went on the rooftops and made themselves comfortable. They were using these people’s homes- with the families still inside- as impromptu military vantage points. Had there been any real fighting- ie the people being victimized actually having weapons and being able to shoot back- these families would have been in great danger. Deliberately endangering civilians is a war crime.

We witnessed a group of Israeli soldiers throwing both acousitc and gas grenades at school-aged Palestinian children who were throwing stones at them. They pointed their guns at these kids, as well as at us, in an attempt to intimidate. The soldiers swore at the Palestinian family who allowed us to stand on their roof and observe, yelling “sharmuta” (whore) at them.

Later, we witnessed clashes in another part of the village between older Palestinian youth and men, and the Israeli army, along with with a special unit of border police forces who were shooting off round after round of rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammo. There were three International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) ambulances standing by, and, very unfortunately, they were kept busy throughout the whole day.

By the time the “operation” was over, forty Palestinians were wounded and one seventeen-year-old boy was dead –shot in the heart with a live bullet. Some people later told us that the soldiers were stopping and detaining these vehicles as they rushed to take the wounded away… if so, it would be another war crime.

Being witnesses to the cruelty and brutality of the soldiers, we also were witnesses to the kindness of the people whom we met in the village. The Palestinian man who with his family allowed us to observe from their roof knew he was taking a big risk, since the military could target him next.

As the siege was progressing and one could hear gunshots and the explosions of sound grenades in the village, the first family we stayed with not only offered us cup after cup of coffee and tea, but later a delicious Palestinian breakfast. Their kids asked again and again to have their pictures taken.

As we walked through some parts of the village when it was safer to do so, people guided us to the places where the soldiers were engaged in their “action”. The second family we visited- whose furniture was trashed by the soldiers- also offered us drinks and warmly welcomed us.

How they were able to maintain their hospitality and kindness in the midst of this horrific event is beyond me. I really have no idea how I would have responded in their place if I had guests come at a time like this. Tragically, such raids happen there on more or less a regular basis. As traumatic as this particular attack was, it was nothing new.

After about six hours there, we had to leave. We could hear the sound bombs and gunshots continuing on our way out. We made sure to hide our memory cards prior to exiting, but the soldiers manning the checkpoint did not even check.

The “operation” was very militant, and well planned. The village was surrounded from all sides, with soldiers blocking the road leading into the village, and others being staked out in the hills. Small white drones buzzed overhead, taking photos. No one was able to get in (although, after about a few hours, the UN was allowed passage) and everyone was carefully screened on the way out.

The army and border police, I later learned, pulled out the next morning, after spending about 24 hours in the village.

The Israeli military had tremendous success — forty wounded and one dead on the Palestinian side, and, on the Israeli side, one lightly wounded soldier who was hit by a rock.

A truly resounding military victory — except that the targets were not uniformed members of an enemy army, or even armed militants. The targets were civilians. Refugees. People already living a life that is economically difficult, who were now hit (again) by this type of calamity.

What happened three days ago was a criminal action — state ordered, supported and sanctioned, and even armed, by certain powerful governments.

However, it was a crime nevertheless. Hopefully, one day, justice will come to this land, and events like this will be remembered as history of a tragic past, not the current and ongoing reality of today.

Israeli sources revealed that Israeli authorities are about to launch over the few coming weeks a judaziation project under the claim of developing the infrastructure of the New Gate area in the Old City of Occupied Jerusalem.

The project aims at transforming the historical area to an attractive touristic site whereby water, electricity and sewage networks as well as floor tiles are going to be renovated, according to a report issued by QPress center for Jerusalem and the Aqsa affairs.

The project is planned to be implemented by cooperation of the so-called Jerusalem development authority along with Jerusalem municipality, Ministries of Jerusalem and Tourism and the water company.

The project costs 10 million shekels and is expected to be completed by 2017.

The Islamic Christian Committee to Defend Jerusalem and Holy Sites warned, on Thursday, against an Israeli project called the “New Face of Modern Jerusalem,” which targets the main western entrance of the city.

The committee said, in a press release, that the plan aims to give Jerusalem a Jewish character, obliterate its Arab Muslim and Christian identity, deface its history and create a new face that doesn’t relate to the original Arab Jerusalem.

Secretary General of the Committee Hanna Isaa said, according to WAFA correspondence, that the plan is proposed on around 720,000 meter square of land and would cost 1.4 billion shekels ($370 million USD).

Issa said that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat’s statement that Jerusalem will become an advanced and more modern commercial center with many technological projects is a blatant declaration of Israel’s intent to give Jerusalem a Jewish character, something rejected by all international laws.

The committee further stated that Israel is working day and night to make Jerusalem Israel’s eternal capital controlled by a Jewish majority. Israel is escalating settlement construction and the apartheid wall, as well as many other projects to serve the purpose of making Jerusalem a Jewish-only capital.

The committee renewed calls upon international and Arab institutions especially the United Nations, UNESCO and the Arab Leagues to interfere immediately, and pressure Israeli into putting an end to all violations committed in this regard.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman unveiled a new plan which aims to change the political and security reality in the West Bank.

The Public Hebrew Radio reported, according to Al Ray, that the plan is based on offering economic intensives to Palestinian communities where no commando operations were launched.

In return, there will be a tightening the punitive measures against Palestinian villages and among the communities where enforcers of commando operations set out from.

According to the plan prepared by Lieberman, direct communication channels will be established with large Palestinian figures in order to circumvent the Palestinian Authority and its leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli ministries of internal security, religious affairs and tourism in cooperation with Israeli municipality of Jerusalem approved the cable car project which is going to link the Magharebah gate, David city in Silwan town, Scopus Mount and Lions Gate all together at the expense of Palestinians’ Awqaf lands in Bab al-Rahma gate cemetery.

This project is one of 19 Judaization settlement projects within the "Jerusalem new vision" schema most of which in the southern area of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The cost of which is estimated at 400 million dollars and it is expected to be finished in 2030. For his part, head of the Islamic supreme authority Sheikh Ekrema Sabri condemned the cable car project and called for its cancellation.

Establishing a cable car over the walls of the Aqsa Mosque violates the sanctity of the Islamic Waqf in Occupied Jerusalem and the Aqsa holy site, he underlined.

Establishing the cable car project will involve changing the traffic routes for constructing a huge bridge from the Maghareba gate towards Silwan town in addition to widening of roads in the area in order to fit to the expected severe traffic in the area especially after building up new facilities within the coming five years.

Israeli MKs called for ousting Joint List MK Basel Ghattas for his calls to boycott Israel at a conference in Montreal.

Yisrael Beiteinu MK Oded Forer called for sanctioning Ghattas over his calls for a boycott of Israel.

“The theater of the absurd in the Knesset continues and the Joint List continues to prove that its MKs do not belong in the Knesset,” Forer said.

“A member of parliament calling Israel racist and calling upon countries to boycott and sanction it is an unheard of act in any sane country in the world.

It is not only delusional, it is against the law.” Forer said he checked the laws prohibiting action that would harm Israel via boycotts and he intends to ask the finance minister to remove special tax status from any organization connected directly or indirectly to Ghattas.

Lawmaker Ghattas from Balad, one of the four parties that make up the Joint List, called Israel an oppressive, racist and apartheid state.

He said he is pessimistic that there will be peace soon, and international sanctions were the most effective way to combat Israel.

He listed examples of Israeli apartheid practices against Palestinians in Israel, including the confiscation of land in the Galilee and Negev areas.

He said that the Israeli society is now governed by a military and settlement mentality, with political extremism existing not only on a government level but through all parties and institutions that play an important role in shaping policy in Israel.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter claimed that “Ghattas is continuing his pattern of being in the Knesset and speaking against it and the democratic values by which it operates.”

Dichter referred to Azmi Bishara, a founder of the Balad Party, claiming that he fled the country while under investigation and calling Bishara Ghattas’s “spiritual father... who betrayed Israel.” “Ghattas is sounding the voice of his master, and could be prophesizing his future in relation to loyalty to the state,” Dichter further alleged.

The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) is embarking nowadays on carrying out new deep diggings several meters away from the southern side of the Aqsa Mosque and the historical wall of Jerusalem.

According to local sources, the Israeli antiquities authority started, with funding from the settler group Elad, to carry out widespread diggings at the entrance to Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan district.

Truckloads of dirt and rock have been removed from the site, where the depth of these diggings are estimated to have reached four meters so far.

According to a recent field visit to the site conducted by Qpress news agency, the new excavations seem to be aimed at connecting the network of underground tunnels beneath the Givati parking lot and the so-called City of David area with each other.

The Arab League on Tuesday warned of a religious conflict waged by the Israeli occupation authorities and fueled by preplanned terrorism in Occupied Jerusalem.

Israel’s aggressive policies in Occupied Jerusalem will only lead to more tension and trigger unabated religious conflict in the region, Deputy Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmad Ben Helli, told reporters.

He added that Israel is placing the region on the brink of a volcano that is very likely to explode at any moment.

He slammed the Israeli occupation authorities for their resort to counterfeit pretexts to justify the settlers' break-ins at Muslims’ the Holy al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Such practices represent a barefaced provocation to Muslims’ sentiments,” Ben Helli further stated as he warned of an Israeli escalation against the Muslim and Christian communities in Occupied Jerusalem.

According to Ben Helli, such Israeli measures fall in line with an Israeli settlement scheme aimed at altering the geo-demographic identity of the holy city.

He called on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to urgently intervene and work on ceasing Israel’s preplanned terrorism against the Palestinian people.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned on Monday the recurring and dangerous attacks waged by the Israeli occupation forces and fanatic settlers on the Holy al-Aqsa Mosque.

OIC slammed the increasing Israeli attacks on the al-Aqsa, saying the Israelis have detained guards, banned renovation works, and cracked down on the peaceful Muslim worshipers.

The statement quoted OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani as condemning such dangerous Israeli measures that breach "the historic status of the Mosque," provoke Muslims' feelings and constitute a brazen breach of the Geneva Convention and international laws.

Madani added that such recurring and provocative Israeli attacks on the holy site might lead to an explosive situation in the region.

Madani urged the United Nations Security Council to move quickly to stop the repeated Israeli attacks against the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Occupied Jerusalem, as well as their racist acts and crimes against the Palestinian people and their holy sites.